Trade Observatory docs

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Title A-Z Z-A	Author A-Z Z-A	Date 1-9 9-1
NAFTA: Fueling market concentration in agriculture	Alexandra Spieldoch/IATP	March 11, 2010
162k Document summary This fact sheet includes testimonies from farm group representatives in the U.S., Canada and Mexico on the role of the North American Free Trade Agreement in further concentrating agriculture markets.
Climate Inequity	Shalini Gupta and Cecilia Martinez	March 5, 2010
95k Document summary This paper reviews the disproportionate role of wealthy nations in contributing global GHG emissions, contrasted with the role of poorer nations and people. It finds extreme inequity in terms of who contributes to climate change and who benefits from GHG-intensive development patterns. The paper links the eradication of the Indigenous commons in the U.S., and the capture of agriculture and farming by agribusiness, to the same market-based philosophy underlying the industrial world's approach to climate change. The paper concludes that long-lasting solutions to climate change must inherently be equitable in order to be sustainable.
IATP comment to CFTC on speculative position limits	IATP	March 4, 2010
2624k Document summary This comment to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regards a proposed rule to implement speculative position limits for energy contracts.
Commodity Market Deregulation and Food Prices	Steve Suppan/IATP	March 1, 2010
126k Document summary This article in the Spring 2010 issue of Food Ethics Magazine looks at the role of Wall Street speculators in creating extreme volatility in food prices.
G33 on price-based SSM	G33	February 11, 2010
345k Document summary G33 on price-based SSM
G33 paper on SSM seasonality	G33	February 5, 2010
150k Document summary G33 paper on seasonality
G33 paper on SSM cross-check	G33	February 5, 2010
166k Document summary G33 paper on SSM cross-check
Cantwell, End-Users Advocate Tough Derivatives Reform	Senator Cantwell	February 3, 2010
40k Document summary Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said today Congress and the Obama administration must establish tough regulatory oversight and transparency in derivatives trading and commodities markets to prevent abuses that helped bring about the economic crisis.
Statement in Support of Cantwell Bill on Speculation	Mike Masters	February 3, 2010
150k Document summary Michael Masters, of Masters Capital Management, an investment management firm, comments on the Cantwell bill and the critical need for derivatives reform in food and energy commodities, as well as in the larger financial markets.
G33 submission on SSM	G33	January 28, 2010
90k Document summary G33 submission on SSM
A Messy Confrontation of a Crisis in Agricultural Science	Shelley Feldman, Stephen Biggs and Rajeswari Raina	January 16, 2010
181k Document summary The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) was initiated and negotiated among fierce debates over the performance of international agricultural science and technology institutions in contributing to the livelihoods of poor producers and consumers, while conserving and enhancing agricultural natural resources. A global IAASTD report and five regional ones synthesized peer reviewed scientific and non-reviewed government literature. This paper documents the four year long process of producing these reports, a process modeled methodologically after the International Panel on Climate Change. IATP participated in writing the policy options chapter of the Global Report and also contributed comments to the Global Report chapter on agricultural investment.
A Messy Confrontation of a Crisis in Agricultural Science	Shelley Feldman, Stephen Biggs, Rajeswari Raina	January 16, 2010
183k Document summary The paper offers a window on both ongoing debates in agricultural science and the experiences of other recent international assessments of energy, the environment, and climate change. It is concerned with analysing how the iaastd was designed and written, for what it can tell us about the conclusions drawn and controversies raised.
Joint Principles for Regulation of the U.S. Financial and Commodity Derivatives Markets	Commodity Markets Oversight Coalition and Americans for Financial Reform	January 15, 2010
43k Document summary These Principles constitute a common platform for a group of more than 60 consumer groups, business associations, farmer organizations, NGOs, energy traders and independent financial analysts. The platform will be used to persuade the U.S. Congress and regulators to regulate financial and commodity derivatives stringently to prevent another financial industry debacle, and economic crisis.
Agricultural Land Acquisitions: Implications for Food Security and Poverty Alleviation	Alexandra Spieldoch, Sophia Murphy/IATP	January 1, 2010
267k Document summary A chapter in the book Land Grab? The Race for the World's Farmland.
The Global Food Challenge: Executive Summary	FIAN - EAA - IATP	December 16, 2009
327k Document summary Cover pages, introduction and executive summary of The Global Food Challenge
The Global Food Challenge: Fundamentals	FIAN - EAA - IATP	December 16, 2009
289k Document summary Section A of The Global Food Challenge including "A Human Rights Approach to Trade and Investment Policies" by Olivier De Schutter and "Agricultural Trade Liberalization in Multilateral and Bilateral Trade Negotiations" by Tobias Reichert.
The Global Food Challenge: Case Studies on Trade, Investment and the Right to Food	FIAN - EAA - IATP	December 16, 2009
710k Document summary Section B of The Global Food Challenge, including "World Agricultural Trade and Human Rights-Case studies on violations of the right to food of small farmers" by Armin Paasch, "Foreign Investment and the Right to Food" by Rolf K�nnemann and "Women at the Center of the Global Food Challenge" by Alexandra Spieldoch.
The Global Food Challenge: New Challenges and Threats	FIAN - EAA - IATP	December 16, 2009
357k Document summary Section C of The Global Food Challenge, including "The Role of Speculation in the 2008 Food Price Bubble" by Peter Wahl and "Deepening the Food Crisis? Climate change, food security and the right to food" by Thomas Hirsch, Christine Lottje and Michael Windfuhr
The Global Food Challenge: Human Rights Based Alternatives and Tools	FIAN - EAA - IATP	December 16, 2009
372k Document summary Section D of The Global Food Challenge, including "An Overview of Human Rights Instruments to Raise Concerns About Trade and Investment Policies" by Elvira Dom�nguez Redondo and Magdalena Sep�lveda Carmona, "Towards a Convention on the Rights of Peasants" by Christophe Golay and "Bridging the Divide: A human rights vision for global food trade" by Sophia Murphy and Carin Smaller
The Global Food Challenge: Abbreviations, List of authors and Publication Information	FIAN - EAA - IATP	December 16, 2009
599k Document summary The final sections of The Global Food Challenge, including definitions of abbreviations, a list of contributing authors and information about the publication.
Report on FAO/WHO Experts Meeting on Food and Nanotechnology	United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization	December 10, 2009
628k Document summary This report summarizes a May 2009 meeting of about 25 experts on the applications of nanotechnology to food, feed and agricultural chemicals. The report also reviews how risk analysis principles of the Codex Alimentarius Commission might be applied to agricultural and food productions with nano-particles.
Comments to the Senate Banking Committee’s Committee Print Title VII of the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2009	Coalition for Derivatives End Users	December 3, 2009
148k Document summary Major corporate users of collateralized debt obligations, credit default swaps and other financial and commodity derivatives argue that they should be exempt from trading on regulated and public exchanges, i.e. that they should continue to be able to trade 'Over the Counter,' or in 'dark markets.'
WTO Ministerial fails to make progress, again	IATP	December 2, 2009
57k Document summary Negotiations at the World Trade Organization are intractably stalled as trade ministers find themselves stuck debating a Doha Round that has long been outdated for the times. Instead, trade ministers need to step back and chart a new course for trade, according to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.
Chairman summary	Minister Velasco	December 2, 2009
16k Document summary WTO 7th Ministerial Conference summary
The Brave New World of Carbon Trading	Clive L. Spash	December 1, 2009
248k Document summary Carbon dioxide equivalent emissions trading is the major mitigation instrument of the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. This paper analyzes the economic theory of emissions trading, Australian and EU emissions trading legislation and the performance of carbon markets in reducing Green House Gasses. It concludes that carbon trading is a distraction from the urgent business of investing directly to supplant current technology and policies with ones directed towards a low carbon economy.
IGDC communique	IGDC	November 30, 2009
16k Document summary IGDC communique
Agriculture and Climate Change—The Critical Connection	Jim Kleinschmit	November 30, 2009
786k Document summary This paper provides an overview on the multiple ways agriculture impacts and is impacted by climate change. It makes the case that sustainable farming systems can reduce agriculture’s GHG emissions and be a primary vehicle to stabilize and reverse climate change, while continuing to provide food, feed, fiber, and energy in a changing climate.
Global food challenge: the book	FIAN - EAA - IATP	November 30, 2009
2455k Document summary Global food challenge: the book
Climate and Agriculture: A Just Response (Executive Summary)	IATP	November 30, 2009
703k Document summary Executive summary of IATP's Climate and Agriculture series for the UNCCC Copenhagen climate talks in December 2009.
Putting Agriculture on the Global Climate Agenda	Anne-Laure Constantin	November 30, 2009
279k Document summary In 2009, agriculture’s role within climate negotiations has become much more prominent, becoming part of the official negotiating text. Many developing country delegations are concerned that UNFCCC negotiators have not yet devoted adequate time or resources on the best ways to deal with agriculture within the text. This paper outlines a series of benchmarks for including agriculture within global climate talks.
U.S. Climate Policy and Agriculture	Julia Olmstead	November 30, 2009
359k Document summary This paper reviews the role of agriculture within U.S. climate policy discussions. The United States, one of the world’s largest GHG emitters, has seized upon agriculture and forestry-related sequestration as a mechanism to reduce its overall GHG emissions. Recent U.S. cap-and-trade legislation proposals have set no caps for agriculture emissions. Rather than considering agriculture in its entirety—what practices would be best for not only the climate, but also for farmers, consumers, the soil, air and water—U.S. climate policy instead reduces agriculture to a carbon storage coffer, enabling other sectors to avoid real emission reductions.
Speculating on Carbon: The Next Toxic Asset	Steve Suppan	November 30, 2009
479k Document summary This paper reviews efforts within U.S. climate legislation and the UNFCCC to create a new carbon emissions derivatives market—which supporters claim is necessary to provide adequate capital for carbon trading. But proposals for a new carbon derivatives market include the same regulatory loopholes that led to excessive speculation on commodity futures markets in 2007 and 2008. If carbon markets are to be the basis for U.S. climate policy, then it is imperative to limit carbon trading only to emitters and offset project developers; create an independent body to set stable prices for allowance credits; and ban commodity index funds from bundling carbon.
Eye of the Storm: Integrated Solutions to the Climate, Agriculture and Water Crises	Shiney Varghese	November 30, 2009
278k Document summary This paper reviews the interconnected nature of the climate, water and agriculture crises—and points to the need for an integrated approach to all three. There is growing recognition that water ecology will be severely impacted by climate change, which in turn has equally critical implications for agriculture. Moreover, the type and scale of irrigation methods influences the degree of farmer vulnerability in a changing climate. Because rain-fed crops are particularly critical for many subsistence farming communities, climate change will have a significant impact on the potential for reducing hunger and food insecurity.
G20 ministerial communique	G20	November 29, 2009
29k Document summary G20 ministerial communique
G10 ministerial communique	G10	November 29, 2009
49k Document summary G10 ministerial communique
G33 Communiqué	G33	November 29, 2009
22k Document summary G33 communiqué pre-WTO ministerial
Cairo Communiqué	African Group	November 28, 2009
37k Document summary African group communique on Doha
Global food challenge brochure	FIAN - EAA - IATP	November 27, 2009
4969k Document summary Brochure presenting book "The global food challenge"
G20 views on substantive issues for developed countries	G20	November 20, 2009
19k Document summary G20 views on substantive issues for developed countries
Annual WTO Trade monitoring report - Part A	DG Lamy	November 18, 2009
800k Document summary Annual WTO Trade monitoring report
Annual WTO Trade monitoring report - Part B	DG Lamy	November 18, 2009
306k Document summary Annual WTO Trade monitoring report
Total Value of Agricultural Production	WTO	November 16, 2009
175k Document summary At the 1 October 2009 meeting of the Committee on Agriculture Special Session, the Secretariat was requested to update the Secretariat document TN/AG/S/21/Rev.1 containing data on total value of agricultural production, in order to assist the ongoing agriculture negotiations.2 In this context, on 6 October 2009 the Secretariat asked participants to provide annual data for those years that were not included in document TN/AG/S/21/Rev.1, from 1995 to the most recent year for which data were available
Food reserves letter to World Summit on Food Security delegates	IATP and 12 other organizations	November 16, 2009
84k Document summary A letter urging government officials at the World Summit on Food Security to consider the role of food reserves in addressing global hunger.
Call for Leadership on Food Reserves at the World Food Summit	IATP and 12 other organizations	November 16, 2009
97k Document summary A press release on efforts by civil society organizations to call on governments attending the World Summit on Food Security (16-18 November) to support the use of food reserves as an essential step towards achieving universal food security.
U.S. groups call for Obama leadership at world food summit	IATP and coalition	November 13, 2009
315k Document summary As the World Summit on Food Security begins tomorrow in Rome, U.S. civil society organizations expressed concern with the Obama administration’s support for increasing intensive, large-scale agriculture production and trade expansion as a solution to rising global hunger—failed approaches that have actually contributed to the global food crisis.
Call for U.S. Leadership at the World Summit on Food Security	23 U.S. Groups	November 13, 2009
268k Document summary A letter to the U.S. delegation to the World Summit on Food Security.
Letter to the IMF on a Financial Transaction Tax	NGO Coalition	November 11, 2009
16k Document summary The letter requests the International Monetary Fund to open a window for non-governmental organization proposals to reform international financial governance. The letter includes a proposal for an international Financial Transaction Tax.
Letter on Taxing of Index Fund Investors	Commodity Markets Oversight Coalition	November 9, 2009
19k Document summary This is a letter in support of Senator Ron Wyden's bill to remove the preferential capital gains tax rate for commodity index investors, since index investing does not perform the price discovery function that is a legal requirement for being granted the lower, capital gains tax rate. Instead index investors would be taxed at the higher, personal income rate.
Letter on Carbon Derivatives Trading	Commodity Markets Oversight Coalition	November 2, 2009
79k Document summary The letter to Senators Boxer and Kerry does not take a position on the overall content of the draft Senate bill on energy and climate change. It advises the Senators that trading carbon emissions derivatives under pending commodity futures legislation could create extreme price volatility that could delay and inhibit investments in Green House Gas reduction technology
GC chair report on Ministerial Conference	Amb. Matus	October 21, 2009
25k Document summary Report on preparations for WTO Ministerial Conference
Financial Services, the WTO and Initiatives for Global Financial Reform	Chakravarthi Raghavan	October 20, 2009
422k Document summary This essay analyzes the World Trade Organization General Agreement Trade in Services and the WTO financial services agreement, and concludes that current GATS negotiations "are being conducted on faith and failed theory." Proposed GATS disciplines would further restrict the ability of governments to regulated the global financial services industry.
Letter on Commodity and Financial Derivatives Legislation	Commosity Markets Oversight Coalition	October 20, 2009
79k Document summary The letter suggests improvements to the U.S. House of Representatives "Over the Count Derivatives Markets Act of 2009."
Ensuring safe, sound and predictable derivatives markets: Future Policy Actions	European Commission Directorate General of Internal Markets	October 20, 2009
54k Document summary A provisional communication to relevant European Union authorities about what DG Markets is planning to revise directives and guidance covering the financial and commoditty derivatives markets.
LDC Ministerial declaration on Doha	LDC trade ministers	October 16, 2009
54k Document summary LDC ministerial declaration on Doha
Strengthening the WTO	India	October 16, 2009
13k Document summary Proposal by Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong China, European Communities, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey, United States and Uruguay for the WTO Ministerial conference.
Global Food Reserves: Framing the Content for a New Multilateralism	Robin Willoughby/Share the World's Resources	October 15, 2009
328k Document summary A powerpoint presentation at a meeting on global food reserves.
Food Reserves: Institutional Mechanisms	Dr. Daryll Ray/Agriculture Policy Analysis Center	October 15, 2009
605k Document summary A powerpoint presentation at a meeting on global food reserves.
Strategic Grain Reserves in an Era of Volatility	Sophia Murphy/IATP	October 15, 2009
94k Document summary A powerpoint presentation at a meeting on global food reserves.
Food Reserves and Food Security	Chris Moore/World Food Program	October 15, 2009
209k Document summary A powerpoint presentation at a meeting on global food reserves.
Food Reserves: A Case from Brazil	Action Aid Brazil	October 15, 2009
292k Document summary A powerpoint presentation a meeting on global food reserves.
Grain Reserves: Solution to Food Insecurity and Market Price Instability?	Hui Jiang/USDA	October 15, 2009
458k Document summary A powerpoint presentation at a meeting on global food reserves.
Reserves Alimentaires: Experiences du Reseau des Organisations Paysannes et Producteurs Agricoles de L’Afrique de l’Ouest	Saliou Sarr/West African Farmers' Network	October 15, 2009
89k Document summary A powerpoint presentation at a meeting on global food reserves.
Strategic Grain Reserves in an Era of Volatility	Sophia Murphy/IATP	October 14, 2009
655k Document summary An analysis of current and historical uses of grain reserves and how they might be used at the international level to address volatility in agriculture markets.
The financial and economic crisis and the role of the WTO	Argentina and Ecuador	October 9, 2009
19k Document summary Proposal for WTO Ministerial conference.
Letter to the U.S. Congress	Coalition of Derivatives End Users	October 2, 2009
55k Document summary This ad hoc coalition letter requests Congress to preserve an exemption to trade commodity and financial derivatives between banks and non-banks, claiming that clearing on public exchanges would harm their economic interests.
Responsabilité alimentaire mondiale L’Union européenne et les Etats-Unis doivent impulser une nouvelle politique. (FR)	IATP and CIDSE	October 1, 2009
913k Document summary Les politiques agricoles, commerciales, énergétiques et de coopération devront être profondément remises en cause, repensées, réorientées. Elles doivent être considérées sous l’angle du droit à l’alimentation : ce droit, l’un des plus fondamentaux pour la vie humaine, était déjà affirmé par la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’Homme de 1948 et a été précisé depuis par plusieurs autres instruments internationaux de protection des droits de l’Homme, dont l’article 11 du Pacte international de 1966 relatif aux droits économiques, sociaux et culturels (PIDESC). Comment tolérer qu’il continue à être ainsi massivement et quotidiennement violé ? A l’heure où le Protocole facultatif pour la mise en oeuvre du PIDESC est ouvert à la signature des Etats, il est temps que tous les pays assument leurs responsabilités pour son respect effectif.
Questionable start for new biomass program	Loni Kemp	October 1, 2009
55k Document summary The way the U.S. Department of Agriculture has rolled out the first part of BCAP is raising eyebrows, as initial funding seems to be going to pay for already-existing biomass supplies used for renewable energy, instead of focusing on helping to jump-start the new cellulosic energy future.
G�]20 must boost social investments to solve global economic crisis, says Social Watch	Social Watch	September 23, 2009
97k Document summary The G-20 should commit to robust social investment programs to stimulate the global economy and mitigate the impacts of the financial crisis on workers, women and the poor, concludes the international civil society network Social Watch in its 2009 Report (socialwatch.org).
Shi Yan and her Little Donkey Farm	Yang Lu	September 17, 2009
263k Document summary Last year, Renmin University PhD candidate Shi Yan bade farewell to her "petit bourgeois" life in Beijing and spent six months on a farm in Southwest Minnesota in the United States. There, she worked as a farmer and experienced first-hand the operation of American farms. Meanwhile, she was searching for an answer to a question that had long left her bewildered. (Translated by IATP.)
CFTC analysis of Treasury bill on over the counter trading	U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission	August 17, 2009
320k Document summary This CFTC analysis of the U.S. Treasury proposed bill for regulating commodity and financial derivatives is addressed to the chair and leading Republican member of the U.S. Senate agriculture committee, which is currently preparing a derivatives bill.